


The Road to Destiny

by TallTales4SmallMales



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Ending, Blood, F/F, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-12 11:41:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28759740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TallTales4SmallMales/pseuds/TallTales4SmallMales
Summary: An alternate climax to the last episode. Instead of sacrificing herself in a blaze of glory, Shadow Weaver pushes forward with her own agenda. Adora and Catra are forced to confront their former mentor, and their feelings for each other, while Horde Prime marches steadily toward his goal. When push comes to shove, will Adora choose her destiny or the person that makes her happy?
Relationships: Adora & Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	The Road to Destiny

Catra’s hair stood on end at the sight of the machine. Every inch of the drill was crafted in the image of Horde Prime’s supremacy. It towered above her, looking down with all of Prime’s condescension. White for purity. Green for control. If he succeeded, she would be back there, mindlessly fawning over his every word. But she wouldn’t be alone.

_Adora._

Without another though, Melog was at her side, throwing a wall of illusory magic between her and Prime’s clones. She fell back on her heel and ran as fast as she could while maintaining her silent footfalls. Only once she felt sure that she was far enough away did she break out into a full sprint toward the camp she had only recently abandoned. Tears came to her eyes, but she pushed them down. They would not help her here. She pushed past the dense foliage that obscured the rebels’ camp from Prime’s soldiers, and ran toward the First Ones temple they were hiding out in.

“Adora? Anyone?” she called out, but there was only one figure to hear her.

A tower of crimson fabric, her mass of dark hair lightly moving of its own accord, Shadow Weaver was facing away from her, tracing strange symbols into the wall of the temple. The sight of her caused Catra to hesitate, but only for a moment. “Where’s Adora?”

With an irritated sigh, Shadow Weaver turned to face her.

“She’s gone to the Heart of Etheria to fulfill her destiny. Were you hoping to stand in her way, as usual?”

“There’s no time for your messed-up power tricks” Catra shouted, taking a step toward her. “Prime has some machine he’s set up in the Whispering Woods. It’s a…drill, or something. I don’t know, but he’s using it to get at the Heart. He’s hacking into the planet as we speak. Adora needs to know. We need to get to her.”

With glacial deliberation, Shadow Weaver cocked her head and considered, her facial expressions unreadable behind the mask she wore.

“What are you working on?” Catra asked, desperately. “It’s magic, isn’t it? Can it get us there?”

“Perhaps” the sorceress responded. “This…” she said, motioning to the strange symbols she had been occupied with, “Is a teleportation circle. In theory, we could teleport to her exact location once the spell is done—”

“Great” Catra said. “Fire it up, and let’s—”

“However,” Shadow Weaver interrupted, a familiar edge of frustration creeping into her voice, “Teleportation magic, when not connected to Brightmoon’s Runestone, requires massive amounts of energy. Especially when teleporting to a place that one has never been to before.”

“Do you have that energy or not?” Catra snapped. Melog caught up to her and stood at the ready by her side.

“I do, but after using what I have to teleport us, I will have very little power for anything else. Suppose Horde Prime is able to hack the First Ones’ defense system? I would be useless in an ensuing fight.”

“Adora and I will handle it” Catra protested. “You just need to get me there.”

Shadow Weaver began walking toward her. Catra’s muscles tensed instinctively, but she did not give ground. Melog began to growl.

“ _You_ will help Adora? Why do something that comes so unnaturally to you?”

“Ugh! This isn’t about that!” Catra yelled. “We need to free the magic from the Heart of Etheria before Horde Prime can get to it. Isn’t that what you want too?”

“Catra, for once, listen to me. I will not belittle your accomplishments as a soldier, but if a crisis were to arise, what Adora needs—what the _planet_ needs—is magic.”

Shadow Weaver began to circle around behind her, stepping closer to lay her hands on Catra's shoulders. Catra stayed in her place, but Melog’s fur erupted into angry red spines. They turned on Shadow Weaver and snarled, forcing the sorceress to keep her distance. Catra knelt down and placed a comforting hand on the beast’s head.

“There are other ways to get this energy. The spellcaster need not drain herself if she should have a…willing donor.”

“You want my energy to use the spell so that you can be at full power when you get there. And why, after everything, would I let you do that?”

Shadow Weaver took a very deliberate step away.

“Do you want Adora to succeed?” she asked, mustering every ounce of condescension she possessed. “Because if so, then you should concern yourself with giving her every possible advantage. And you, Catra, are not an advantage. You would only stand in her way.”

Catra noted the slight edge of desperation in her voice.

_She’s pulling out all the tricks to get me to say yes. She wants something badly. Something she’s not telling me._

And then, unbidden, the image of Adora with glowing green eyes, while Horde Prime ran in his hand along her face in a gentle caress, came into her mind.

_There’s no time._

“Fine” Catra said. “I’ll do it.

* * *

The view of Etheria that stretched out before her defied anything she had been expecting to see, especially so far underground.

Deep down, She-Ra knew that it was all just a holographic projection, one sophisticated enough to interpret her memories and present an accurate facsimile before her. And yet, despite the fact that she was standing inside an entirely metal structure, deep beneath the surface of the earth, everything around her felt so…alive. She stood at the top of a rocky overhang looking far down at the endless horizon. A wilderness where the trees almost exploded up from the dirt. The sounds of insects and birds and great beasts lumbering through the forest all coalesced into a gentle soundscape of breath and activity before reaching her ears.

_Have I really seen someplace this beautiful before?_

A warm, familiar light appearing in the edge of her vision drew her attention away from the horizon. Stepping out of this light, matching her in height and splendor and power, was Mara. She stood beside Adora at the edge of the cliff and stared out in silence.

“I’m sorry” Adora said after a while. “I failed you, Mara. You gave your life to prevent others from getting hurt. And I…I couldn’t stop the portal that sent us back to the rest of the galaxy. And now Horde Prime is looking to fire off the weapon. Everything you worked for…everything you died for has almost been undone. Because I wasn’t strong enough.”

Mara stepped behind her and laid her hands on Adora’s shoulders.

“Adora. Look.”

She placed one hand beneath Adora’s chin and raised it back to the horizon, where the wild, multi-shaded patches of green stood against the deep blue sky, stretching out to unfathomable distances.

“Etheria is a planet. A planet that lives and breathes and moves with the seasons. A planet that is filled with life and beauty and magic and power. Think of how many creatures live here. Imagine how long some of those trees have stood where they stand. Picture every part of Etheria you have ever visited and then remember that you have barely scratched the surface. Etheria is big place. You aren’t the only person responsible for keeping it safe.”

“But I am!” Adora protested. “I’m She-Ra. The planet chose me to save it. To sacrifice for it. It’s my destiny.”

Mara walked forward and sat at the edge of the cliff, her legs dangling off the side. Adora stepped next to her and then looked down. The immeasurable distance overwhelmed her, and she stepped back.

“Yeah, sorry, that’s…that’s a little too high for me.”

Mara chuckled and then returned her gaze to the horizon. “You know, if I’d had my way, you wouldn’t have come here at all. The road that I walked—well, I suppose it’s an understatement to call it difficult. I never wanted to be an example, Adora. I never wanted anyone else to follow me down that road. The things I loved about Etheria: the people, the magic, the food; I lost all of those things in order to follow my destiny.”

“It was heroic” Adora said.

“It was cruel” Mara replied. “The blessings of this planet, the blessings of being alive, they are meant to be enjoyed by all living things. Including you. Aren’t there things on this planet that you cherish? Things that you couldn’t live without?”

Adora closed her eyes and allowed the images to play across her mind. She saw Bow and Glimmer. She saw her room in the Brightmoon castle. She saw Swift Wind. She saw the Princess Alliance, waiting for her to come up with another strategy. She saw the first party she ever attended.

She saw Catra.

And then, a door opened in some part of Adora’s brain—the same door that always opened when she thought about Catra. Behind that door was a truth too complicated and frightening and dangerous to reckon with. So Adora did what she always did in order to keep herself focused. To keep herself sane. She closed the door.

She felt the shudder in her body as the magic of She-Ra flickered. For one moment, her form shifted away from the legendary hero and back into the former Horde soldier who struggled with doubts and friendship and trust. For a moment, She-Ra was gone, and she was only Adora.

_I love my friends. I love my home. I love Etheria. I will fight to protect them._

And then, she was She-Ra once again.

Mara looked at her with concern. “All of those things you thought of, the things you love about Etheria, hold onto them. Every friend, every loved one, every cherished memory. They are important, because they are alive. They are important, because they strive to be good. And they are important, because they make you happy. Never forget, Adora, you are worth more than what you can give to others. You deserve love too.”  
  
And then, the image of Mara, the other She-Ra, flickered and froze in place. All of the natural ambiance around Adora vanished, leaving only a deafening silence.

“ _Charming._ ”

The voice that came from behind Adora cut into her mind and set the hairs on her arm standing up. She spun, leveling her sword at the tall, white-clad visage of Horde Prime.

“Such an impressive display of holographic technology” he preened, his four eyes glancing around the projected forest. “For its time.”

“What are you doing here?” she demanded.

“Merely admiring the architecture.” Prime responded coolly. “Assuming the planet survives, I may be able to obtain some fascinating souvenirs from these old ruins.”

Adora turned to the doorway she had entered from. There must be another pathway toward the Heart. She needed to reach it before Prime did, before—

The mechanical doors slammed shut before she was able to take a step toward them. She glanced around desperately, searching for any other exits. Only open air greeted her.

“And what is this?” Prime asked. He knelt beside Mara, who was now only a static image projected onto the side of the cliff, her face a fixed picture of empathetic concern.

“This face looks so…familiar. I swear I’ve seen it before. Or, at least, one very similar to it. That is one of the challenges of immortality, little sister. The sheer amount of information that one receives means that some of it…falls through the cracks.”

“You won’t win” Adora said. “I will never let you win.”

Prime chuckled at that and stood back up to his full height, almost eye-to-eye with She-Ra’s form, but not quite. He studied her face for a moment before turning away, looking out over the cliff’s edge.

“I was not always immortal. Very few of my disciples are privy to that information, so count it an honor. No, there once was a time when I was very much like you. Young, passionate, determined to fly in the face of the...inevitable.”

Adora ran forward, lowered her shoulder, and rammed it between Prime’s shoulder blades, hoping to see his form tumbling off the side of the cliff. She phased right through the hologram and teetered on the edge of the overhang, before throwing herself back.

_Stupid. Of course he’s a hologram. He must have hacked into the ruins._

Without any pause, Prime continued. “The planet’s name was Balrak. One of the few details about my homeworld that I have retained. I don’t remember why I was so enamored with the place. Perhaps it was the connections I made with other beings. Perhaps my work gave me some sense of fulfillment. Or perhaps I merely held affection for one of the universe’s many floating rocks simply because it was the one I happened to be standing on. Whatever it was, Balrak seemed to contain everything that made life worth living. Still, no amount of my sentimentality could save it from its fate. But I was young. I believed that I could carve my own path and save my planet from the future.”

Finally, he turned back to Adora.

“Care to guess what happened next?”

But she had not been listening to his story. She had continued to search for another way out, another way to race the clock.

Horde Prime tutted. “Well, I won’t bore you with further details.”

His form flicked out of existence and reappeared in front of Adora, who stepped back, slashing uselessly with her sword.

“But hear me now, She-Ra. There is one thing I do remember from that time. Whatever it was that made me feel like life was worth living, whatever charm Balrak had that made me believe I was strong enough to defy the will of Fate—it was taken from me. My friends, my work, and my home, all gone. And I was alone.”

He stretched out his hand toward her, with upturned palm, and took a step forward. “But the Horde is never alone. Only I can save you from turmoil and pain. Only I can banish the shadows that claw at your mind. I am destiny, and I will set you free.”

Half of Adora’s back foot was hanging over the edge of the cliff. She glanced back at it, again overwhelmed by the immensity of the forest and the height of the drop.

She stared back at Horde Prime, anger swelling up inside of her.

“I’d rather die than join you.”

This time, Prime’s chuckle erupted into a laugh that echoed across the wide expanse. “Well, fortunately, little sister, those are your only options.”

Adora opened her mouth to respond, to spit as much venom at him as she could, but then another sound broke the silence. It was not the distant hum of some animal or any further prattling by Prime. It was a familiar voice, and although she couldn’t make out the words, she knew who the voice was coming from.

_Catra._

Again, the door inside of Adora’s brain opened, and again she closed it before the truth could come through. Her form flickered, but she held her ground.

The voice was coming from below her at the bottom of the cliff, and she knew where she needed to go.

“You’re wrong” she leveled at Prime. “Everyone who has ever tried to tell me my path was wrong. I am She-Ra, and I make my own destiny.”

And without another word, she stepped backwards and fell.

* * *

“Adora? Adora!” Catra called out.

She took a couple steps forward before her muscles gave way. She collapsed against the nearest wall to hold herself up. The teleportation had drained her, making it almost impossible to stay upright. 

“Where is she? I thought you said the spell would take us right to her.”

Shadow Weaver was studying the intricate patterns inlaid throughout the architecture. Lines and symbols indicated the First Ones tech that suffused this building, and Catra supposed it was possible that they might hold some clue as to where they should go. They would have been hard to read in the darkness, had they not been glowing with the sickly green light of Horde Prime.

“I also said that that teleporting to a place you’ve never been to before is complicated” the sorceress snapped back.

Catra pushed herself off of the wall, not wanting to be too close to the eerie green glow.

“What if we’re in the wrong ruin? What if we’re way behind her? What if there’s some secret room that only She-Ra can access?”

“I did tell you to focus on her location” Shadow Weaver responded.

“I _did_ focus” Catra asserted between clenched teeth.

“I’m sure you tried” Shadow Weaver drawled. “Though it never was your strong suit.”

“I gave you all of my energy, because you said that Adora needed magic. Well what good is your magic if we can’t even find her?”

“Were it not for my magic, you wouldn’t even be here. You would have simply run away, just like you always do.”

Catra hissed under her breath. “I’m not running away. ADORA!”

Her ear twitched at the sound of something above her. Something large and approaching quickly.

“Something’s coming!” Catra yelled. She used all of her energy to throw herself out of the way in time. The room reverberated with the impact, and Catra could feel the vibrations in her bones as she lay on the floor. She looked up and saw her.

She-Ra.

_Adora._

Adora hit the ground in a three-point landing, immediately scanning the area for threats. She turned her head until the two of them locked eyes.

“Catra?”

“Hey Adora. You sure know how to make an entrance.”

Adora ran to her, scooping her off the ground and practically lifting her into the air. Her face erupted into the widest smile Catra had ever seen.

“I thought you had left” She said, her big, dopey eyes threatening tears.

“Well, I couldn’t let you have all the fun, could I?”

Catra pulled her into a hug. The height difference when Adora was in her She-Ra form made things awkward, but it didn’t matter. Adora was here, close to her, and she was alright. They held each other for a moment, before Catra felt a shudder in Adora’s body. For a brief second, She-Ra’s visage flickered out, leaving a pain-stricken Adora in her arms. She-Ra flashed back into existence but seemed…unsteady somehow.

“Whoa, hey, is everything alright?” Catra pulled away and looked up at her, searching for any sign of an injury.

“I’m fine” She responded a little too quickly. “It’s just something that’s been happening. It doesn’t matter. Why are you here? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to see you, but…why?”

“Because Prime is making a play for the Heart.” Catra explained. “He’s got some sort of machine; he’s hacking the place right now.” Catra stepped away and immediately crumpled in on herself. She grimaced in pain. “Ugh. We don’t have a lot of time.”

“Whoa, hey, are you okay? Because you…you’ve looked better.”

Catra chuckled. “Well, running to the rescue can take a lot out of you.” She grimaced again.

“Where’s Melog?” Adora asked, looking around the room. “I thought you two were inseparable.”

“I had them stay behind to help the rebellion” Catra responded. “I didn’t want Shadow Weaver to get any ideas about using them as a battery or something.”

Adora turned back to her, her brow furrowed in concern. “You came with Shadow Weaver?”

“Yeah? She was the only one who could teleport here.”

Adora turned her head and glanced around. “Then where is she?”

Catra followed her gaze. Lo and behold, the room was empty.

“Whoa, weird, why did she run off?” Catra asked.

“She’s going for the Heart” Adora asserted with enough confidence to knock Catra back on her feet

_Of course that’s what she wants. Power. It’s always about power._

She took a step toward the hallway. “Ugh, of course. We give her one opportunity to do the right thing, and she uses us, just like she always does. We need to—”

Catra tried to take another step forward, but the muscles in her legs lost their battle with the force of gravity, and she crumpled to the floor. She felt the reverberations of Adora’s footsteps running toward her.

“Catra! Can you walk?”

Catra took a sharp inhale. “I don’t know. Go ahead, I’ll—”

Before she could finish her sentence, she felt one of Adora’s hands on the scruff of her neck and another behind her knees. With a sudden lurch, her body was pulled off of the ground, cradled in She-Ra’s arms. Catra felt the blood rush to her face. “Um…”

“Come on” Adora said, running into the next room. “We’re close to the Heart now. I can feel it.”

They ran into the next room. Or, rather, Adora ran, while Catra craned her neck to look at their surroundings. This room was much larger, its emptiness illuminated by the green light of Prime’s interference. There was only one other exit from this room: a corridor on the opposite side. Even Catra could feel the magical energy that poured out of that hallway. And she could see the snake-like figure of Shadow Weaver hurrying toward it.

Adora shouted “Where exactly do you think you’re going?”

Their former caretaker stopped in her tracks. For a moment, Catra wondered if she was going to make a run for it, but after a brief pause, the sorceress slowly turned back to them.

“Adora, thank goodness you’re alright” she crooned. “The Heart is just beyond this corridor. Surely you can feel its power.”

Catra was carefully placed on the ground, the energy from the Heart giving her the ability to stand on her own.

“Step away. Now” Adora demanded.

“My dear, there’s no time for this bickering. Horde Prime has already begun his infiltration” Shadow Weaver insisted, not moving from her spot. “Just follow me into the corridor, and we can—”

“No” Adora interrupted. “If you want to be useful, step behind me and guard my back. Or help Catra get out of here. But you are not going in there.”

“Adora, there is no time. Please, just—”

Before the sorceress could get another word out, Adora raised her sword and pointed it toward her.

“None of it” Adora declared, with steel in her voice. “The magic of Etheria is going back to Etheria, but you get none of it. You have only ever used your power to hurt people. To trick them into doing what you want. But no more. You will live the rest of your life being weaker than everyone else. You get nothing.”

The silence was long and tense as the green light of Horde Prime crept along the walls, closer and closer to the corridor that Shadow Weaver refused to leave.

At length, she took a step away.

“Forgive me, Adora. You’re right. This power belongs to those who have been friends to Etheria.”

Adora watched her footsteps, but Catra watched her hands and noticed the flick of the sorceress’ wrist as one dipped into her sleeve. The movement was subtle enough that Catra knew Adora hadn’t seen it. She braced herself before Shadow Weaver tossed a small vial across the room toward them.

Ideally, she would have pushed Adora out of the way and dodged to the side, but the teleportation had taken too much out of her. Her muscles were sluggish and tight. She only had time to do one of those things, and the choice was clear. Shadow Weaver was about to hurt them, and Catra knew, from experience, that she could take it. With all of her might, she threw her shoulder into the side of She-Ra’s torso, throwing her as far away as she could manage.

The vial hit the ground in front of her and exploded.

* * *

Adora hit the ground with her hip and threw herself into a roll to regain her footing.

“Catra!”

The vial erupted into a bulbous, black tendril, grappling Catra two feet off the ground. She turned back toward Shadow Weaver, whose hands were already forming circles in the air. A blast of purple fire hurtled toward Adora, who was forced to retreat even further to the side of the room in order to avoid it. The power of the Heart seemed to be enhancing Shadow Weaver’s magic, making it quicker and more lethal. But She-Ra was made of the magic of Etheria, and Adora felt her form growing stronger as well.

As soon as the fiery blast had past her, she pushed off the ground in a direct sprint toward the sorceress. Shadow Weaver dropped low, tracing her fingers in arcane patters on the floor. A torrent of black spikes shot out of the ground to block her path, but Adora transformed her sword into a long staff and vaulted over them. As soon as she hit the ground, she threw her weight into a spin, using the extra length of her staff to swing at Shadow Weaver’s face. A carefully timed protection spell blocked the attack, but She-Ra was on the offensive now.

Running forward, Adora changed the staff back into its original blade form and slashed toward her stomach. Shadow Weaver stepped back just in time to avoid the blow. With a wide arc of her right arm, she sent a pulse of energy at the floor, propelling herself backwards to gain some distance.

_An opening._

Adora changed the sword into a whip and struck forward. It reached across the room until it entangled the sorceress’ feet. With a sharp pull, Shadow Weaver hit the ground. All that was left was to close the distance and finish her. Even behind the mask she wore, Adora could tell that Shadow Weaver was growing desperate. Feeling the surge of power that went into She-Ra’s form, she lunged forward. Two steps were all it would take to clear the distance.

Shadow Weaver reached out a hand and clenched her fist.

Catra screamed.

Adora turned to see the tendril tighten around her friend. Veins in Catra’s face threatened to burst with the sudden pressure, and Adora could have sworn she heard the cracking of bones.

“No!” She cried out. And then her form flickered.

She only lost her powers for an instant, but that gave Shadow Weaver more than enough time to collect herself. Muttering a few words, she wrapped her bony fingers around the end of the whip that entangled her feet. Dark electricity shot through the whip and up Adora’s arm. She screamed in pain and dropped her weapon, which Shadow Weaver yanked away from her grasp before it reverted to its sword form.

Adora ran for the blade as Shadow Weaver created a whip of her own, this one made of dark flame. In an overhand swipe, she brought the flames raining down on Adora, who had just enough time to dive for her sword, transform it into a shield, and hold it above her. She rolled backwards, desperately trying to regain her footing, before something grabbed onto her ankle.

She turned to see that Shadow Weaver had created another tendril behind her, pinning her to one spot. If she used her sword to cut herself free, she left herself open to an attack, but if she stayed in one place, Shadow Weaver would hurt Catra again to bait her.

“You think you can stop me from getting what I want?” the sorceress yelled out. “Everything you learned about combat, you learned at my discretion. I know how you attack. I know how you dodge. I know…” she said, while extending a hand toward Catra and squeezing, “…how you think.”

Catra screamed again, and again, Adora fought to suppress the mad rush of feelings this elicited from her. Her form flickered. For another moment, She-Ra vanished, and only Adora was left. But this time she did not change back. The tendril around her heel was wide enough to hold She-Ra, but far too wide to hold Adora. Using this sudden freedom of movement, she rolled out of her restraint, raised her sword, and shouted, “For the honor—”

And then she felt a sharp, tearing pain in her stomach as a wall of thorns erupted in front of her, cutting into her and sending her flying backwards. The sword flew out of her hand, and blood began to pool at her side. Shadow Weaver had created a wall of thorns between the two of them, with Adora on one side and the sorceress on the other.

_And Catra._

She turned. The green light of Horde Prime had made its way further across the room during their battle, closing in on the corridor that led to the Heart. There was still time for her to run, to get the failsafe to the Heart before it was too late. But…

“Adora, go!” Catra shouted. “Leave me; get to the Heart. It’s your des—”

Again, the tendril clenched around Catra, eliciting another scream of pain.

“That is enough from you” Shadow Weaver spat. “You have stood in my way every chance you’ve gotten.” She stepped closer to Catra, tightening her grip even further. “I may have failed to teach you discipline in the Horde, but rest assured, the last thing you learn in this life will be _respect._ ”

Adora ran forward, pushing her foot off of the lowest thorn on the wall and vaulting over the top. She brought her fists down across Shadow Weaver’s face, knocking her mask away.

Adora gripped her side and swayed dangerously while Shadow Weaver staggered backwards. In her mind, she reached out for the magic of She-Ra, but it did not come to her.

“Why?” hissed the sorceress.

She raised her head, and Adora saw the dead gray skin, intersected with scars that was her face. Shadow Weaver’s eyes burned with hatred and scorn.

“Look out!” Catra cried, but it was too late.

Another circle had appeared behind Adora, and with a flick of Shadow Weaver’s hand, it rushed forward, colliding into her. Adora flew backwards, before landing in a crumpled heap at the sorceress’ feet. She reached out her hand, trying to summon the sword, but Shadow Weaver’s foot stomped down on it.

“Why, Adora?” her old mentor asked. “From the very beginning you had talent. You had power. You had a destiny. And yet, you allowed her to distract you. You chose her instead of your path at every step. Why would you let someone as meager as her stand in your way?”

In that moment, the door in the back of Adora’s brain flew open, and the terrible, unspeakable truth stepped through.

_Because I love her._

With a burst of built-up pressure, the power of She-Ra flooded back into her. Crackling, explosive energy ran up her legs, through her body, and into the palms of her hands. She focused, concentrating all of that energy in front of her. It coalesced into a glowing ball of incredible force.

"Wait" Shadow Weaver yelled out, panic creeping into her voice. "No, Adora, _listen to me._ "

Then, she released it.

* * *

The overwhelming pressure that had threatened to pop Catra like a balloon vanished all at once. She had just a moment to catch her breath before her collision with the floor knocked it all out of her again. One of her ribs screamed in agony, and even the energy that came from the Heart was not enough for her to lift herself up. Not yet, anyway.

Even in the midst of excruciating pain, part of Catra’s brain still was, and perhaps always would be, a force captain. As soon as she blinked the stars out of her eyes, she raised her ears and scanned the room, searching for threats. What she saw instead, was the body of Shadow Weaver, impaled against a wall of dark thorns. The wall was quickly dematerializing, and before long, her adversary’s corpse dropped to the ground. Whatever blood there may have been was mostly disguised by the crimson color of Shadow Weaver’s cloak, much to Catra's relief. When she raised a clawed hand to her face, she was surprised to find tears. She wiped them away.

_Adora._

She crawled toward the prone body of her first and closest friend. Adora’s bleeding was not quite as concealed.

“Oh my God, Adora. Are you okay? Hey, hey, stay with me. Are you okay?”

Weakly, Adora opened her eyes and looked up.

“You almost sound worried about me” she gloated, with a grin on her face.

“Yeah, dummy, I was” Catra responded, as more tears dripped down her chin. “It’s my job to keep you from doing something stupid, after all.”

“No offense” Adora said, struggling to pull herself up to a sitting position, “But your track record leaves much to be desired.”

Catra leaned over and supported her, until both of them were up on their knees. Catra took off Adora’s coat and wrapped it around her stomach to staunch the bleeding.

“Why did you do it?” she asked.

“Do what?” Adora responded.

“Why did you come back for me? Why didn’t you go for the Heart when you had the chance?”

Adora’s laughter was enough to surprise and slightly annoy her.

“Catra, you’ve been reading my mind for the last few years, and you don’t know the answer to that?”

With a great effort, Adora began to get her feet underneath her, before collapsing again.

“Whoa, hey, take it easy” Catra said, helping her up. “Can you heal yourself?”

“There’s no time” Adora grunted. “We’ve wasted too much of it already. I’m going to feel really stupid if I win against Shadow Weaver just for Prime to blow up the planet. Can you walk?”

Catra stood up, but her legs threatened to give out at a moment’s notice.

“Not really. You?”

Adora stood up again but needed to lean heavily on Catra.

“Not particularly.”

Catra chuckled. “What an awesome pair of heroes we are.”

The two wrapped their arms around each other and leaned against one another. They took a step forward.

“Oh, so you wanna be a hero now?” Adora teased.

“Eh. Being the villain’s not all it’s cracked up to be.”

And so, the two of them walked forward together, each leaning on the other as they made their way to the corridor. A voice in the back of Catra’s head that sounded suspiciously like Shadow Weaver still tugged on her doubts.

_She chose you this time, but Adora has a destiny. A road that she must follow. A road that doesn’t include you._

But for now, none of that seemed to matter. In that moment, only two things were important to Catra: that Adora was by her side, and, at least for now, they were walking in the same direction.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I made this fic, because Shadow Weaver's ending is the one part of the finale that really rubbed me the wrong way. I felt it would be more thematically satisfying to have her, as a representation of Adora and Catra's troubled past and shared trauma, as the final obstacle they needed to overcome. It also allowed me to write a fun magic fight, and isn't that what really matters?
> 
> I heavily altered Mara and Horde Prime's dialogue, mostly because I wanted to have that scene again, but I didn't want it to feel like a total retread. I also wanted to make Horde Prime's motivation/backstory a little more relevant to Adora's immediate identity crisis.


End file.
